Ohio Animals, Pendulums, and Waves

What a fun Friday we had! Our entire morning was devoted to science, so for the those kiddos in our class who really enjoy science, as most of them do, they were have a fantastic learning experience! Our morning started with Mrs. Van visiting us from Ohio Nature Education. She talked to the students about the various habitats found in Ohio, as well as animals that are native to our state. Mrs. Van also discussed the various behaviors animals exhibit to cope with winter, including hibernation, migration, and a variety of adaptations. The children were ecstatic when, at the end of her presentation, she brought out some of her live animals. These are animals that have been rescued from the wild and can no longer return due to injury. The children were able to see a bat, flying squirrel, opossum, and Great Horned Owl. It was a great way to end our study of Ohio habitats and animals. A special thank you to the PTO for providing the funds for Mrs. Van's visit!

Learning about Ohio habitats

Sleeping bat

Flying squirrel

Great Horned Owl

After Mrs. Van's presentation, we headed back to our classroom for another science lesson with Meredith's dad, Mr. Clay. The children got to experiment with pendulums and learned how string length affects the rate of a pendulum's movement.

Mr. Clay then did some experiments with waves. He had constructed a wave machine out of tape, bamboo sticks, and gum drops, which the children were talking about long after he left! The children learned how tension and mass affects the movement of waves.

Classroom Project

This week in 2^nd grade we did a project. What we did for the project is we colored in 4 deciduous trees & 4 conifer trees. Then, Mrs. Hofmann let us pick an animal. I got a skunk. There really interesting. The deciduous trees are bare & the conifer trees are not bare. After we color in the trees we cut them out. Then we glued the trees down. After we glued the trees down, Mrs. Hofmann gave us a paper where we had to write down what the deciduous tree does in Winter, Spring, Summer, & Fall/Autumn. Below that, we had to write where our animal lives, what our animal eats, 2 things that keeps it living, what it does in Winter, & an interesting fact. Then we glued them in the season & we glued down cotton balls. Then we colored a frame, & inside the frame was a picture of our animal. After that we wrote By, first & last name, & then we were done with our project. (: I’m also excited because tomorrow a lady named Mrs. Van is coming & is going to show us Ohio animals!                                         

 By: Logan                                                                                          

Ohio Animals Project

The students have been working very hard on their Ohio animal projects! The children decorated their deciduous trees to reflect how they change during each season, and then had the opportunity to choose an Ohio animal to research. There were a few kiddos who asked if they could do tigers or polar bears, and went on to explain to me that these animals were in Ohio, even if it was at a zoo. :) However, I told them our focus in second grade is on the forest habitat and those animals who naturally call Ohio their home! Toward the end of the week, the students began researching their Ohio animal and utilizing everything we've been learning about nonfiction features to help them successfully find the information needed for their projects. My plan is to have everything completed by this Friday in preparation for our visit from Mrs. Van, director of Ohio Nature Education, who will be visiting the second grade classrooms and sharing her knowledge of Ohio animals with us. Her presentation is always lots of fun for the kids!

Mrs. Suriano visited our classroom as a Mystery Reader last Friday and read a terrific book entitled, The Tree, by Dana Lyons. The story is told from the perspective of an ancient Douglas fir tree about to be destroyed.
Remember, if you're interested in being a Mystery Reader this school year, we would love to have you! Send me an e-mail and we can arrange an upcoming date and time.

New Year's Resolutions

We had a great first week back at school! As much as it's nice to have time off around the holidays, there's something to be said for getting back into the routine!

On our first day back, we talked about New Year's Resolutions. I explained to the kids that resolutions are like goals, and that many people make them at the beginning of the new year. I even shared my own New Year's Resolution, which was to keep our house better organized. Kate and Aubrey seem to never put their toys away, which is partially my fault. I'm often so tired in the evenings that I'm not very firm about making them clean up before bed, so by Friday our entire downstairs looks like a toy aisle at Toys R Us! It's only January 8 and we're doing great, but I wonder if I'll be saying the same thing a month from now!

The children then had the opportunity to put on fun New Year's hats and come up with their own resolutions. They had to write two school resolutions for the second half of the school year and two home resolutions. The kids really came up with some great, thoughtful goals, such as staying on "Ready to Learn" or higher for the rest of the year, and being nice to a brother or sister. Their resolutions are posted outside our door on the bulletin board, so when you come for conferences in a few weeks, be sure to take a look!